Jing Tea

This tea was pretty good. I liked the peach, but the jasmine was a little strong.

I can’t get enough of this tea and especially love playing with the weight vs. water ratio and timing.

Puerh tea is by far one of my top teas to drink. It’s earthy, but isn’t too bitter and there’s a sweetness after you drink it. I could definitely drink this multiple times and not get tired of drinking it.

Luxurious! Really very good Loose Shou from the good people at Jing. I used 10g sample in 100ml Gaiwan, 1 rinse. Steeps: 20, 20, 30, 35, 45, 75, 100, 150, 210 sec.
This nicely aged Shou certainly didn’t have any suggestion of fermentation notes but was mellow, with the flavours building through the steeps, and later very refreshing. Not heavy at all. Initially lovely Pine wood and sweetness, also a certain juiciness about the mouthfeel. Thyme aromatics lingered on 2nd steep, by 3rd steep felt more earthy, like Beetroot. Sweetness consistent up til ~8th steep, where started to fade. Best Shou I’ve tried- better than YS CNNP 1999, and at £6/ 50g, affordable for everyday luxury!

I was surprised to see Jing offering pure Assam as their flagship Breakfast Tea, but it didn’t disappoint. A really robust, malty Assam that really hit the spot. I didn’t detect much complexity, but what it did was superbly executed.

I’m a sucker for Yunnan Black (Dian Hong), and I really like this offering from Jing. Long leaves and very light golden tips I tend to associate with a lot of natural sweetness. It doesn’t disappoint, with plummy notes, rich sweetness that keeps on going for at least 2 steeps. The overused descriptor of cocoa is there, I think. Rich and satisfying, for when you deserve a treat.

A really good example of 2nd flush Darjeeling for the money. A nice, robust red tea with some backbone of tanin and astringency. The Muscatel note is there, if less pronounced. Nice fruity notes, I would go with apple.

This is a sip down of Jasmine Pearl Fuding Da Bai cha, made by Jing’s.
I’m not sure if it’s the same tea as the one listed here, but I’m using this page because I’m too lazy to add a new page, especially for a tea that is a sip down!
It’s light & lovely, the way jasmine should be. Essence of a forest rain, one of the few florals I actually enjoy, and in just the right intensity, to make this an elegant & soothing cup.
Thanks to Tea Explorer for the sample!

Ok oolong tea. Nothing special.

This post is likely to be a bit… Part of my Christmas present from Husband was a box of handmade chocolates and they’re terribly distracting! I shall try to focus on the tea as well as possible. (The nifty thing about them is that he could tell the person in the shop which I don’t like and have a box completely without minty chocolate and without liqour-y ones.) I’ve nearly eaten all of them anyway, om nom nom nom! I bet I’m going to get mocked for how quickly they went, but seriously! You can’t just have one chocolate. It’s unpossible!

Anyway, tea! Husband, when prompted, suggested an oolong. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I thought I’d have this one. One more thing to tidy out of the cupboard. Today I’ve had the Great Steepster Cupboard Tidy of 2014. My cupboard housekeeping has rather slipped lately. I tend to gather a few things for removal before doing anything about it, but this time it had just never got done so the pile of things to be removed only got larger. Plus all the things that I didn’t actually have anymore because I’d forgotten to remove them when I used them up. Or never added in the first place. And of course the pile of stuff that went in the compost because it was unlikely to get used up ever. Some of it was from last year’s tea calendar! Brought my cupboard down to pretty much half the amount of teas. But it’s tidy now, and everything in it is stuff we would conceivably drink.

Not doing well with this tea. It’s very good. It’s oolong-y and roasty and very supreme indeed. Not sure it’s particularly more supreme than their normal one (which was sold out at the time which is why I bought this one), but it’s pretty supreme to me.

Smells like bark and tastes toasty and a bit bread crust-y and I wonder what’s inside this chocate with a nut on it? Ooh nougat! Om nom nom nom nom!

Queued post, written October 19th

I’m running into the same problem with Keemuns now as I have with Lapsang Souchong. It’s so familiar to me at this point, because I like it so much, that I find myself unable to figure out what to write about it. I can’t really write an extensive post on it any longer, because I inevitably end up feeling like I’m repeating myself for the umpteenth time and then I just feel silly. I considered for a while whether I should simply just stop writing about these types all together then, and keep my posts on teas that I’m actually capable of producing something worthwhile (I hope) about. (Whatever it is Husband is watching on his computer (probably Starcraft), it sounds hilarious. He’s in fits of giggles!) But then I thought, that would sort of be cheating, wouldn’t it? So, we’re pressing on!

I tend to brew this one fairly strong, so the flavour gets a bit prickly. It brings out the smoky note quite well though. Even on the resteep there’s a great deal of grainy body to it, although less of the smoke. The first steep has smoke and prickles and life-giving qualities, while the second steep is mild, but not weak, with a grainy body and a great deal of caramel-y sweetness.

I’m sorry, that’s all I can come up with. It’s really hard to approach something with mindfulness when you already know it inside and out…

Queued post, written September 13th 2014

Gosh, I’m having trouble spelling. Nearly put the title of this entry in my queue as ‘vinalla’ and the date as ‘Spetember’. It must be the smell of this tea messing with my faculties. It’s the only flavoured tea I got from my order from Jing Tea, but come on, I couldn’t not get it. I’m glad I did too, considering how universally pleased I’ve been with everything I’ve tried from them so far. I’ve had the Keemun I ordered several times too, I just haven’t been able to write about it. Cup keeps going empty, you see. Anyway, vanilla.

It smells like a bakery. Sweet breads and cakes and frosting. It’s otherworldly good!

The leaves have a strong vanilla aroma to them, thick, creamy and with a smidge of something cocoa-y even. I had to go and take a sniff at my favourite vanilla black from Fru P for comparison, and they are very similar. This one smells stronger, though, and has that whiff of cocoa. I suspect that might have something to do with a difference in the base. I don’t actually know what the base is in either of these but it smells like it’s not the same.

After brewing it still smells strongly vanilla-y. Or rather, it smells like vanilla pods rather than vanilla as such. The smell when you slice open a fresh (or as fresh as they can be in a supermarket) vanilla pod, that’s what I’m getting here. I can actually even imagine said pod quite clearly, how leathery it looks but surprisingly soft and pliable when felt.

The vanilla flavour is almost entirely in the aftertaste and it’s quite strong and mouth-coating there. In the actual sip, I’m getting that cocoa note and a great deal of grain. I’m getting a lot of the base here and the flavouring as more of a side-dish than the main course.

I quite like that. It’s that feeling that I’m drinking tea that I prefer in flavoured teas. I’m not actually getting much of that in my favourite vanilla black from Fru P, which is a little out of the ordinary, but in this one I am. In spite of the fact that this feels more strongly flavoured than the Fru P one. Again, I think it comes down to a difference in the base. This one, I think must be Chinese. I suspect Fru P’s is made on either a Ceylon or a blend.

Fru P’s vanilla black is my favourite vanilla black based partly on it tasting good but also on convenience. It’s so easy for me to get because it’s a local shop. Therefore it’s very very hard to beat, favourite-wise. This one, while very good indeed, can’t take that favourite spot because it’s simply not convenient enough for me to get it. If it was something I could pop in and get a pouch of on my way home from work, then we could talk about it.

Queued post, written September 10th 2014

I have become increasingly interested in Taiwanese black teas lately, so when I was finally allowed to place an order a sample of this went into the basket without a second thought. Muscovado sugar, baked fruits and eucalyptus, the description says. Eucalyptus?!? Give it here! In Denmark you can get these little eucalyptus flavoured winegums. Not a super-popular type of sweetie, but I think they’re lovely, and a bag will last a long time too.

The company description seems very accurate on the aroma. Baked fruit and some kind of dark sugar? Yes, absolutely. It reminds me of some kind of crumble. The eucalyptus is less obvious, but I am getting a note which makes me think, “yes, that must be it. Why have I never thought of that before?” It’s a familiar note. I’ve just never made the eucalyptus connection with it, and that’s odd because that association just clicks.

It’s the same with the flavour. The caramel-y sugar note is very strong and it’s followed by a note of baked apples. I’m almost expecting a spoonful of custard to go with this here apple crumble that isn’t actually there.

But how does eucalyptus fit in? It’s not really something I imagine that goes well with fruity desserts and that sort of thing, but… it fits. It adds oomph and adds a bit of finish. It lifts the cup from being a mild little dessert tea to something rather more powerful which is very suitable for first cup of the day. It’s a strong and flavourful tea and I’m very happy with this.

I feel even more motivated to embark on a torrid love affair with Taiwanese blacks now.

(Oh, and for the record, in spite of what this post might imply, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to attempt to enhance an actual apple crumble with eucalyptus or similar…)

It’s funny, I love assam, but I do not care for English Breakfast, so I was hoping this would bring English Breakfast up a notch for me… no luck. It tasted like any English Breakfast tea I could get anywhere.

This is super citrusy! There’s also some grass and spinach going on, but these notes are on the lighter side. I’m not getting hazelnut at all, but there’s enough here to satisfy me. A really enjoyable green, and the fact that it’s organic is a plus for me. Thanks for this sample, Nicole_Martin!

I had won this unique oolong a few months ago true a facebook competition and it was in my tea storage for that long. But here we are i had some cups of this Phoenix oolong and its a wonderful tea!

The discription on the package was ‘notes of strawberry and orange blossem’ and to my surprise i had a soft strawberry taste with my first cup, not strongly but a faint aftertaste almost like a light strawberry yogurt. The orange blossem was present from the first cup as well but it was far more clear in the next 4 cups. I brewed this tea western style starting with 2min and increasing the brew time with each cup by one minute. The results where 5 very very good cups of tea.

This tea reminds me a lot of phoenix honey orchid but its more forgiving and lasts way longer in taste. It does not get bitter at all, to bad u can’t buy this anymore on the jing website.

One of the best oolongs i had so far in my opinion.

Thanks, Nicole-Martin for this 2013 pick dragon well. I decided to pick anther dragonwell this morning to a weekend of it.

I followed the directions for a 3 minute steep at 176F. I was worried about the long steep time, but it turned out surprisingly not sea-weedy. This is fresh, grassy, and buttery. There is a depth to this dragonwell that is different from the grape notes I got out of yesterday’s Verdant. The package says this one has ‘subtle liquorice root complexity’, but that doesn’t quite describe the depth I’m getting either. I’m having trouble attaching a description to that note, but the closest I get is plum?The aftertaste however is a juicy burst of apricot and is very bright as aftertasts go. I’m tempted to pull out the Verdant again and do a side-by-side comparison.

Reminds me of an elderflower drink my dad used to get in the summer. I’ll have to try this iced.

Perfectly balanced – green tea against jasmine, sweetness against richness, not too light nor too heavy. A superb jasmine “standard”.

i’m getting confused, i believed i did make a review on this tea before… but i guess i’m wrong or overlooking it.

Well this is a very good vanilla tea, not to strong or to soft. Ideal with a creamy cake or some dark chocolate.

I brewed this for 3 min on my first cup and for the second cup 5min, both with near boiling water. The color is a light brown, copper colored infusion that smells very sweet, the vanilla scent is clear and not artificial.

A great cup for a lazy relaxing evening!

I’m drinking more and more from this tea. its just so good, its soft creamy earth like in taste… Like i said in my first note its a very good tea. Probably going to drink this a lot in the future!

Into my second cup now, and this tea just got even better and smoother. Its a big difference with the tuo cha’s a lot richer in taste. I’m curious how many good cup’s i’m going to get out off these leaves… And an other thing i forgot to mention in my last note is the price point off this tea. Just around 11€ for 50grams!

My very first loose leaf puerh. Have to say it smells a bit weird, earthy and something i can’t place yet. The dry leaf look a bit like black tea but u can see its older and less fresh.

Brew time say’s 15 to 30seconds and thats what i did for a first cup, 30 second brew!

Letting it cool down a bit and i’m tasting a very soft tea with strong earth note’s. No bitterness at all. Its very smooth and almost creamy in taste. This tea is 5 years younger then me, feels weird to drink something thats 23 years old! But it tastes very very good.

This loose cooked tea is better then the cooked mini tuo cha i had a while ago!